Secret News III

Lin Xin had come to ask Shan Lu about the true nature of the Nether Prefecture.

"My first question is about the Nether Prefecture."

He got straight to the point. His suffering had been growing worse and worse. During the last great battle, those under his command had slaughtered countless cultivators and Dao soldiers. Though there had not been many Origin Scenery Dao Integration experts, their numbers had been so vast that he had gained over ten thousand more free attribute points.

And the Righteous Soul Pearl had finally lost all effect. Although the Evil Soul Pearl absorbed and converted ninety percent, he still had to bear one-tenth of the Lord Power.

Yet the Netherworld Mansion Lord's devouring power was unimaginably potent. That one-tenth of the Lord Power contained the souls, vital essence, even Life Fire imprints and memories of those lives.

This had accumulated into his greatest hidden danger. There were too many memory fragments in his mind, too vast in number. At any moment, they might explode and blast him to pieces, driving him mad.

The secret arts Lin Xin had acquired, after he had raised his average attributes to six thousand, could now only barely restrain the fluctuations of his own aura.

If he strengthened himself much further, he would ultimately be forced to break through the boundary and leave.

Thus, he had directly stored away his remaining attributes and immediately come to find Shan Lu, hoping to obtain a method of salvation.

"I want to know, what exactly is the Nether Prefecture?"

The moment he spoke, a trace of something unusual flashed through Shan Lu's eyes.

"The Nether Prefecture..." he muttered pensively.

"In ancient times, evil gods ran rampant. Celestial Venerables, demon gods, and monster gods each held sway over one region, slaughtering one another in chaotic wars with the evil gods."

He gathered his thoughts and continued.

"No one knows what the Nether Prefecture is. Ever since I was very young, I heard great monsters mention it. There were even divine rumors saying it was a world without light."

"What does 'without light' mean?" Lin Xin asked mildly.

Shan Lu sighed.

"No light, no hope, no life. Back then, the entire Netherworld was a complete mess. Even among the gods, the Nether Prefecture was already considered an exceptionally evil existence. It was said that many evil gods often entered and left that place. Yet at the time, the Nether Prefecture was not as it is now. It could only be considered an ordinary world that was somewhat more evil than most."

"Even you do not know its true nature?" Lin Xin frowned.

"I truly do not." Shan Lu shook his head. "It existed countless tens of thousands of years ago. From ancient times to the present, it has always been so."

He paused and looked at Lin Xin.

"What else do you wish to ask?"

Lin Xin let out a breath, somewhat disappointed. But if even Shan Lu did not know, then there was indeed little chance of learning anything more.

He organized his thoughts.

"I also want to know the relationship between the Human Realm and the Netherworld. Or rather, I want to ask how many worlds this universe has altogether."

He had traveled to many worlds through the Nether Prefecture, yet he had never known what sort of structure connected those worlds.

Shan Lu was quite forthcoming with this question.

"The Human Realm lies above the Illusory Sea. After their lives end, their souls pass through a place called Reincarnation and enter our Netherworld, where they are reborn as members of the Netherworld. Then, after dying in the Netherworld, they reincarnate and head to the Human Realm. The two cycle through one another."

Shan Lu glanced at Lin Xin.

"To the humans, we are immensely powerful evil fiends and yin souls. To us, the Human Realm is a colossal furnace with scorching yang energy. Also, if you wish to learn the true nature of the Nether Prefecture, perhaps you may go to the Human Realm. It was the main battlefield in ancient times, so many clues should have remained there."

"Rebirth?" Lin Xin frowned, roughly grasping some of the connections.

"The third question."

He spoke at last.

"How does one reincarnate into the Human Realm?"

Shan Lu froze.

Then he answered with a smile.

"You only need to go to the boundary between life and death and cast yourself into the Reincarnation Wheel. The Reincarnation Wheel is everywhere and encompasses all things. Only when you are on the verge of death can you come into closest contact with it."

"On the verge of death..." Lin Xin fell into thought.

"The Human Realm is vast, immensely vast... It likewise possesses countless corresponding worlds. True Lord, you may also travel through the Illusory Sea to inspect other worlds."

Shan Lu spoke in a low voice.

Lin Xin nodded slightly.

He had never gone to other worlds because he feared that, if he carelessly entered somewhere else, he might be unable to return.

Originally, he had thought the Soul Injury Contract and other contracts here could serve as positioning coordinates, allowing him to return to the Netherworld.

But a later test had made him understand that it was not so simple. His contract's positioning could not penetrate the barriers between worlds at all.

When he left Shan Lu, complicated thoughts continued to whirl through Lin Xin's mind.

It seemed he had learned something, yet it also seemed he knew nothing at all.

Floating outside the swamps of Transformation Cave, he casually picked a direction and flew away.

Lin Xin wandered aimlessly, continuously darting through the skies above pine forests that blanketed the mountains and plains.

From time to time, he could see towns passing below.

Some towns sensed someone flying overhead. Just as cultivators rose into the air, they could only see Lin Xin's receding silhouette and grasp nothing at all.

If reincarnation was real, then had Xiao Lingling also gone to the Human Realm and been reborn?

And when he had first come to this world and entered this body, was Earth also one of the Human Realm worlds connected to this Netherworld?

Question after question flashed through his mind, but none had an answer.

Without realizing it, he arrived above a small lake like a piece of emerald.

He descended softly and stood by the lakeshore. There was no one around; only he gazed at the rippling waters. Layer upon layer of glittering reflections continuously caught the sunlight and shone upon his face.

He stood there for several hours.

The sky gradually darkened. This was an uninhabited wilderness. Occasionally, he could see a few dusty-gray wild rabbits running to the lakeshore to drink.

Lin Xin's six thousand points of evasion had kept pace with his other attributes. The benefit was that although his strength had continuously grown greater, his ability to conceal his aura had kept up as well, still allowing him to hide the increasingly formidable presence around him.

Those little animals did not even sense that someone stood nearby, merely drinking on their own.

A spotted leopard was silently approaching from the side, attempting to hunt those foolish gray rabbits.

Neither the rabbits nor the leopard noticed Lin Xin, who stood so close at hand.

"The Human Realm..." Lin Xin sighed deeply.

"Who are you? What are you doing standing by my little lake?!" A somewhat frightened woman's voice suddenly came from behind him.

Lin Xin slowly turned around and saw a young woman with a slender figure holding an exquisite wooden basin, staring at him in some alarm.

"You..." For some reason, he suddenly felt that the woman before him looked very familiar.

The woman wore an apricot-yellow long dress. She was petite and lovely, with her long hair hanging loose. A tiny bell swayed at her hairline, chiming brightly.

She opened her eyes wide as she examined Lin Xin, but her eyes could not help reddening slightly.

"You're human. I thought you were some mountain spirit or ghost. You scared me to death."

Lin Xin smiled. For some reason, standing beside this girl gave him a faint sense of peace.

It was different with An Ying. At first, she had been strong while he had been weak. Now that he was strong and An Ying was weak, he instead no longer knew how they ought to get along.

Over all these years, Lin Xin had actually faintly sensed that he and An Ying were not as suited for one another as he had imagined.

She was too competitive, always wanting to fight until her head was bloodied for the upper hand. She had never wanted to rely on Lin Xin's power and influence.

Yet the result of that was that she only grew more exhausted.

Over all these years, apart from often chatting and eating with Lin Xin, An Ying and he had made no other moves.

Thinking back on it now, Lin Xin felt a slight sense of guilt.

Then, seeing the girl before him and comparing her with An Ying, he suddenly recalled why he found her familiar.

"Lingling..."

He called out unconsciously.

The girl was slightly startled, then spoke.

"What did you call me? Have you mistaken me for someone else?"

Though this girl's personality and temperament differed greatly from Xiao Lingling's, she still possessed a faint air much like Xiao Lingling's.

"What are you doing here alone?" the girl asked quietly. "There are many mountain spirits and ghostly creatures here. My sect set up a barrier nearby, and ordinary people cannot enter at all. How did you get in?"

She was somewhat curious.

"I simply walked in."

Lin Xin faintly sensed that something was amiss, yet gazing at the familiar aura of the girl before him, he could not suppress his memories of the long-dead Xiao Lingling.

And thinking of Xiao Lingling made him think of An Ying, who had waited for him all these years.

Even after becoming an artifact spirit, An Ying still had the limits of a soul's lifespan. After all, she had once been human, and had even suffered many hidden injuries. Her cultivation had progressed slowly.

Whenever Lin Xin cleansed her marrow and refined her essence, he could feel her spiritual consciousness and spirit body continuously weakening.

Looking at the little girl with that familiar aura, he suddenly found himself unable to suppress his longing for An Ying.

When I return, I'll marry her... He no longer wished to fail her.

After all these years, after An Ying had been found by him, she had spent so many more years waiting for him. In the end, he had to give her an answer.

"Little girl." He slowly revealed a gentle smile. "What is your name? Why have you come to such a dangerous place?"

Seeing his handsome face and his smile directed at her, the girl blushed and could not help taking two steps back.

"I... I'm Xiao Lingling. I've always lived here, for many years already."

Xiao Lingling?!

The smile on Lin Xin's face instantly froze.

There could not possibly be such a coincidence in this world!

His heart tightened. He suddenly sensed something wrong behind him and turned around.

He saw a beam of pure white light descend from the heavens, slowly landing in the center of the lake. A powerful Yin Extremity True Lord aura swelled outward, blowing away vast clouds of white mist and miasma in every direction.

A graceful and gentle woman slowly appeared within the beam of light. Her bearing was tender, her gaze deep, and yet she carried a trace of compassionate serenity.

"Mystic Woman..."

Lin Xin's pupils contracted. He recognized her identity in an instant.

The supreme figure of the Jade Clarity Dao. The yin and yang Mystic Women were one entity, ranked third on the Heavenly Ranking. The person before him was clearly the Yang Mystic Woman.

"Yuan Dou True Lord..."

The Yang Mystic Woman revealed a smile as though she had waited a long time.

"Perhaps I should address you as the Primal Battle Mother. To cultivate the Primal Battle Demon Art to the unprecedented peak of the Ninth Layer, a talent as astonishing as yours is likely the first in the entire demonic path for countless millennia."